


How to Stop CPS from Taking Your Little Brother Away

by Cyneval



Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Alive Sabo (One Piece), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Ideas, Boys Being Boys, Brotherly Affection, Comedy, Fake Marriage, Gen, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Luffy Is a Little Shit, Minor Character Death, Modern AU, NOT Sabo/Ace, Protective Older Brothers, Rouge is a good mom, Sabo Has PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, luffy is a baby, mentions of abuse, not a single braincell, these boys are stressed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:42:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23485501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyneval/pseuds/Cyneval
Summary: Admittedly, in the year since Rouge’s death things had fallen apart. But that didn't mean they were about to let the government take Luffy away from them.They were brothers after all, and as long as they were together they could get through anything.But it's too bad none of them have enough brain cells to come up with anything other than a half-thought through plan of marriage. Oh well.(In which,  its a modern au ASL bros, and the government is gonna take Luffy away and so Sabo and Ace panic and decide to get married so they can legally adopt Luffy and shenanigans ensue bc they have to pretend to be married but they are like, emotionally brothers)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 136





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a comedy I promise.
> 
> A gift for a friend on Instagram!

“What are we going to do?”

The air is heavy between them, and neither moves as they sit across the table. Sabo swallows hard, but he doesn’t speak because he doesn’t know what to say. Ace is glaring hard at the table, pointedly avoiding looking at the paper in his hands.

Sabo and Ace have been brothers for as long as either of them can remember. As Rouge would fondly claim, they’ve been attached at the hip since the first day they’d met at the playground when they were just 3 years old.

She’d reminisce with the same fondness just how attached they’d been, how Ace had wailed and clung to the boy in blue like the world was ending when she’d said it was time to go home, how said boy in blue, Sabo, had screamed right along with him and clung just as hard to Ace. It took over 20 minutes, she’d say, and so much bribery just to separate them for the evening.  
Ace and Sabo would deny it, but simply flee when she’d offer to show them the pictures of their tear-soaked, snot coated faces.

It was with playful woe how she’d complain how she’d had to bring Ace back to the park every day just to see Sabo- and Sabo would be there almost every day waiting for him too. On the days he wasn’t there, she said, Ace would cry for hours and refuse to leave until sunset just in case he showed up later. But her laughter betrayed how little she minded.

That’s how it was for years. They’d see each other at the park and play for as many hours as they could. Until when they were 8. Until Sabo hadn’t shown up at the park for a few days. Until Rouge walked into her son’s bedroom one night to find him determinedly setting up a makeshift bed in his closet for a familiar blond boy dressed in blue. A blond boy covered in bruises and soot, trying to stifle his sobs while one had clutched at his face in pain.  
After that night, Sabo lived with them. They’ve been brothers since.

The paper begins to crumple in Ace’s grip, hands tensing into fists until the paper finally starts to tear. It’s the sound of it that drags Sabo back into reality- if it could be called that anymore. It feels twisted and warped, unreal now with this heavy weight looming over them. It has to be a bad dream.  
“They can’t just… take Luffy away.” Even to Sabo, his voice sounded distant, his mouth moved but it didn’t feel like it was him speaking. His voice was shaking. He could hear the tremor in it.

Luffy had been an unwelcome addition to their brotherhood at first. The boy was only a baby when Rouge first introduced him to them, and they were 10, so neither of them could see him as anything more than an intruder. He was a snot-nosed, crying brat and they resented him for it immediately. Infants were useless, they complained, they couldn’t even punch anything- much less take a punch.

But then Rouge gave her warm laugh and ruffled their hair like she always did, “Boys, this is Luffy, he’s your cousin. He’s going to be living here from now on, alright? Be nice!”  
When they grudgingly leaned over to see the baby, Ace was immediately met with a tiny fist to the nose, which had him threatening the infant while Rouge stifled a laugh. Sabo meanwhile, got a far sweeter introduction of the baby, with Luffy staring at him wide-eyed, grabbing his finger and pulling it towards his open mouth.

Of course, they hadn’t really been nice in the beginning. Not sparing any attention to the infant except to complain and yell when his cries woke them in the middle of the night. But despite being an annoying crybaby, and despite their best efforts, as Luffy grew up he found a way to worm himself into their brotherhood, and their duo became a trio.

“We can’t just let them take Luffy away!” Ace’s voice was loud, angry, but even his voice was shaking, “Those… those bastards just can’t waltz in here unannounced, say they’re doing a wellness check, then just… take Luffy! Who the hell do they think they are! ‘Not fit to raise a child’ my ass!”

Admittedly, in the year since Rouge’s death things had fallen apart. Both Sabo and Ace had moved to an apartment in the next city over when they graduated, but Ace had dropped out of college as soon as Rouge got sick. What started with weekly trips home soon grew in frequency, which soon led to Ace packing his bag and moving home full time to care for both Rouge and Luffy. Meanwhile, left to his own devices, Sabo threw himself into school and work, not able to stand being alone in the apartment and sickened by his own helplessness.

They were all home though, the day Rouge died. It was the first day of the year, they were celebrating. She’d said she felt well that day. Ace was the one who found her when he’d gone to give her her medication.

After the funeral, the three of them moved back to the city, back to the apartment barely big enough for two people. Luffy didn’t understand, of course, he was only 10. Sabo did his best to explain, but Ace refuses to speak of her.

Things had fallen apart, but in the end, they still had each other- and as long as they were together, they could get through anything.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brotherly interaction?? Please

“What if we got married?”

Oh. There are a lot of things Ace might have expected to come out of Sabo’s mouth. A marriage proposal was nowhere on that list. Or any list for that matter. He could have made 100 lists and never once put those words on any of them. After all, Sabo was the smart one. But then when he glances up to see the other looking at him so earnestly-

The laugh that escapes him is more of snort, and when Sabo makes a face in return, his hand flies to his mouth to stifle himself.

“Wait, you were serious?”

Now Sabo looks sheepish and he practically chokes at the realisation.

“Seriously?” he’s rightfully incredulous and yet Sabo glares at him for it, “Sabo we’re brothers! What’s that even got to do with the government and Luffy in the first place?”

Sabo stands from the table with a strained sigh, as if Ace is the one being ridiculous here when he himself had just proposed marriage like it was the obvious solution. Why was he getting up anyway? Oh god, he wasn’t going to get on one knee right? He wasn’t seriously-

But he doesn't get on one knee, instead Sabo merely crosses the kitchen to grab the kettle and start the stove. Ace can't stop the sigh of relief that escapes him, but he still eyes his brother's back warily, suspicious still of his motives. A moment later, Sabo's voice came from where he still stood at the stove.

“I know it sounds stupid but it could be the solution to this Ace! Just... Stop and just... hear me out,” 

_Trust me_ was the unspoken plea, but Ace could hear it in his brother’s voice, in the way the his voice was tense and pitched up an octave at the end, and he frowned in response. Of course he trusted Sabo but… Maybe he’d been too quick to judge. How often did Sabo lead him wrong after all? He could think of a few examples, but they were all childish pranks. Not something like this. Never when it was something like this on the line.

He realises he must have been quiet for a moment too long when Sabo gives yet another harsh sigh and a mug thunks on the counter after he must have slammed it there with more than the needed force. Guiltily, he opens his mouth opened to reply, but Sabo beats him to it.

“Just. Listen. You saw just like I did that that woman who came in here didn’t give two shits about whether or not we were taking good care of Luffy,” Sabo’s voice was terse, harsh, giving Ace the distinct impression Sabo had wanted to punch the ‘caseworker’ just as much as he had despite the calm demeanour he had put up, “All she cared about was that we were two men living here with a child that we aren’t blood nor apparently in any way legally related to!”

It’s Ace’s turn to be sheepish, he can feel the heat of embarrassment crawling up his neck, because of course Sabo is right- he has a tendency to do that, be right, no matter how annoying it is. She had mentioned that, hadn't she? That none of them were in any way legally related... But he won’t give in just yet, and slowly turns his head away to avoid Sabo’s gaze before Sabo can read him and make some annoying comment about how Ace feels or some shit.

“... That doesn’t exactly explain the whole ‘marriage’ plan ‘Bo.” It’s not exactly a victory to point that out, but Ace says it like it is anyway, because while Sabo is smart, Ace is stubborn.

Sabo’s response is to place a mug in front of Ace, far gentler than he had earlier, and retake his previous position across the table with a mischievous hum, which of course catches his attention and now Ace is curious.

He slowly turns his attention back to Sabo and he’s not surprised to see the smug grin on the other’s face.

“I was getting to that little brother-”

“I am older than you-”

“Ah, but what you have in 3 months, I have in height so you are the little brother,” 

Ace would have liked to punch Sabo in the face for that, but even he had enough sense to understand that that was probably what Sabo wanted so he could feign innocence and play the victim and Ace sure as hell wasn’t letting that happen a fourth time this week.

“Ignoring that, do you have a plan with marrying me or am I just that good looking?”

Sabo rolled his eyes, and Ace took that as a small victory as he reached down to grab the coffee Sabo had prepared- though suddenly he was suspicious of its contents. He wasn’t in the mood for salty coffee, not again.

“As I was saying.” Sabo said, ever dramatic, “What if we play the system? According to the government, none of us are related at all right? So there’s nothing saying that we can’t get married…”

Sure, they could get married, Ace would concede that much, “And? Why would I want to be married to a brother as unpleasant as you?”

“For one, Ace, I am hurt that you could call me of all people unpleasant. For two- if we get married, then we can just adopt Luffy. Then they can’t take him away because now, by their own rules, we’re family! We’ve got all the legal mumbo-jumbo that says we get to raise him!”

Oh. Ace hadn’t really thought of that. If they just used the government’s own rules against them… He admits he has to give that to him, as weird as it sounds, marrying his brother could very well be the only way to save his other brother. Wouldn’t that make for a family tree? Here is my brother-husband and my brother-son… would that make him simultaneously Luffy’s brother, father, and uncle?

He can’t stop the laugh that escapes him at the thought, and suddenly he’s laughing full force in uncontrollable bursts, his body is shaking and his chest is light, the fit of it nearly knocks him out of his chair and then it does, and he’s laying on the floor laughing so hard that he can barely hear Sabo start to laugh too.

But he can see the blond hair in his peripheral and his chest is full and warm because the tension from earlier is gone, and the fear is gone. They have each other and things are going to be okay.

It’s sometime later that Ace is peeling himself off the, as he found, incredibly dirty floor and as he does he feels his hand brush the paper he’d temporarily forgotten, and he quickly crumples it in his fist.

Only to promptly launch said paper directly at Sabo’s head.

“I never thought I’d have to marry someone as stupid as you.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luffy exists

The concrete below his sneakers is smudged with chalk in bright colourful colours, scribbled flowers and smiley faces, several he’d drawn himself. His foot scuffs across one of the flowers, further smudging the colour and kind of ruining the drawing but he doesn’t really care as he sniffs hard and bites his lip to keep it from turning into a frown. But he still feels the wetness run down his cheeks and through distorted vision sees the drops hit the chalk covered ground. Stupid, he thinks, he’s not crying, but his hands reach up to rub the tears from his cheeks on his sleeves.

Luffy is 10. 

And he considers himself old enough to be a man, despite what Sabo tried to convince him, and according to Ace, men don’t cry. Ace never cried, and Ace was a man. Luffy had cried a whole lot when he was 9, but he was 10 now and 10-year-olds were men. Especially because he was almost 11, and if 10-year-olds were men, then 11-year-olds were like super-men and super-men certainly didn’t cry.

So that's why he most certainly isn't crying right now as he stands on the sidewalk of school, all alone, just waiting for his brothers to pick him up. Alone. Crying is for babies. He’s all grown up.

"Luffy!"

At the familiar voice, his head jerks up from where he's been staring at the concrete only to feel his chest tighten painfully when he sees Sabo running towards him with Ace just a few steps behind. Hastily he scrubs his face with his sleeve, but there are more tears and he doesn’t care because his brothers are here for him and he isn’t alone anymore. Sabo is smiling and gives a wave.

His feet move instinctively and he’s running to them with a wail.

"Sabo! Ace!" 

He doesn’t even really care if he’s crying and if Ace teases him. Sabo said it’s okay for men to cry sometimes and that Ace was a prude.

The impact of contact when he crashes into Sabo nearly knocks the older over, but Sabo quickly recovers and regains his balance before they fall and Luffy makes himself bite back a sob as he clings tightly to Sabo’s waist and feels his brother’s arms wrap around him in a comforting hug.

"Hey, Luffy. Sorry, we're a little late. Blame Ace."

"What? Don't put this on me!"

Luffy just nods, sniffling, and wipes his face against the fabric of Sabo's jeans, leaving a streak of tears and snot in his wake- but he’s too preoccupied with clinging to the blond to be grossed out by it.

Ace, it seemed, was less preoccupied and could be grossed out by it.

"Lu! You’re such a damn crybaby, we're only like 10 minutes late. What happened to ‘men don't cry?’ dummy!"

Luffy squeezes tighter to Sabo, who he has decided just now is definitely his better older brother, and turns his face to stick his tongue out at Ace, his decidedly worse older brother.

“Shut up! It’s not my fault you left me by myself! I’m only 10 stupid! What if I got kidnapped!”

The arms around his shoulders move and suddenly Luffy finds himself being hoisted into the air, and he panics for a moment that he’d made Ace mad enough to pick him up- but it’s just Sabo, and Sabo is laughing as he lets Luffy attach himself to him. Ace is standing behind them rolling his eyes and making that face he makes when Sabo babies him, but Luffy just jerks his head away to pointedly avoid looking at his horrible older brother.

“You little-”

"We're only even late because you had a conniption on the floor for like 20 minutes!" Sabo cuts him off and Luffy grins victoriously as Ace sputters. He may only understand most of those words, but that doesn't deter him from waving this victory in Ace’s face.

"Yeah Ace, you and your damn conniptions!"

"Luffy, language!" Sabo chides him, but Luffy just laughs because Ace’s face is turning a funny shade of red.

“You little shit! I don’t need a damn crybaby telling me off! Who the fuck taught you to swear anyway!”

“It’s no fucking wonder Luffy swears! You swear like a damn pirate, Ace!”

Luffy rests his head on Sabo’s shoulder and laughs as the two bicker, angrily pointing and jabbing fingers at each other. He likes it when it’s like this- it’s just like when they were still little and sitting in their treehouse at the edge of the woods. Before momma got sick and went away. Sabo says she died. He didn’t like thinking about that too much, because then he missed momma and he’d cry and then everyone would get sad too. Even Ace, even if he tried to pretend he didn’t.

Besides, there wasn’t any reason to get sad when it felt better to laugh. 

.

His eyes open slowly and the world is all blurry with sleep, and he’s not quite sure where he is. But he’s not scared because he still feels Sabo’s arms around him and he can hear Ace’s stupid voice, so that means he’s safe at least, not alone if they’re here.

He can feel the gentle rhythm of Sabo’s footsteps as he lifts his head, but when he moves he can feel something on him shift and blinks slowly as he turns to see Ace's jacket spread over him in a makeshift blanket- which makes a stupid half-asleep smile spread on his face as he drops his head back to Sabo’s shoulder. Ace was always mad, but he was just like that because he thought it was stupid to care about people.

“Ace, it’s a purely legal marriage. We are not having a fucking ceremony.”

That was Sabo’s voice, he registers half asleep, weird.

“What? No fuck you, if I have to get married to someone as gross as you, I at least want to have a ceremony with like, friends and food.”

“What friends?”

“Fuck you. I have friends.”

He’s too sleepy to laugh at his brothers fighting, and while he tries to listen, he doesn’t hear the rest of the conversation because he falls back asleep to the sound of their voices and the gentle bounce of Sabo’s walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wouldn't mind if you wanted to throw some change my way 
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/cyneval
> 
> Or follow me on twitter and Instagram  
> @cyneval


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabo time

It isn’t as if marrying his brother is his ideal plan he reasons with himself as he types into the search bar, Ace is a stubborn oaf at best and he would certainly prefer marrying just about anybody else. But marrying somebody else wasn’t an option here, Luffy needed them. And he would give up everything and himself before he would consider...

He sighs through his nose as he clicks on the first article that showed on the screen, but his mind is elsewhere. 

He would never consider giving up his precious baby brother to the government to be tossed around in a system that wouldn’t care about him. Wouldn’t try to understand him. They’d just toss him around. From family to family. But there was no family to be found there… To put him at risk like that… to risk putting him through anything like he himself had gone through. Oh god, not Luffy. He wouldn’t let them.

The world is a blur around him as his thoughts race, horrific images of his baby brother. He’s on fire. He’s screaming for them but they aren’t there to help him.

12 years later and just the memories could still make the scars on his body ache, a painful tightening in his chest. He can smell the burning flesh. His flesh. On fire. The pain. The yelling. Help me. Please. I won’t do it again. Stop it. There’s smoke in his lungs, he can’t breathe. The fire is spreading. They’re looking down at him in disgust. Help me. They aren’t saving him. They set the fire and they aren’t helping him. Please. Make it stop. It hurts. He’ll be good. He’s scared. Ace. Help me. He can still see the sunshine freckles and his big smile. Oh god. He’ll never see it again. He's going to die. He’ll never get to see Ace again because he’s going to die-

A sudden weight on his leg snaps him back into reality harshly, but the world is fragmented and the past is seeping through the cracks of the present. He’s standing on the precipice of the fissures. Fragments of memory are chasing him as he feels the hot tears dripping from his cheeks. He can’t find the line between reality and memory. Then the weight shifts for a moment, pulling away before growing heavier and more distinct in pressure, forcing him to pull his head from his hands to accommodate the body clambering onto his lap that’s providing the weight. It’s grounding, it’s real. 

“Luffy?”

There’s no audible response, but the boy on his lap wraps his arms around Sabo’s torso and squeezes so tightly that Sabo feels his ribs creak.

But despite the wheeze that is forced from him, it's a comfort. The pressure is welcomed and Sabo wraps his arms around the smaller boy and hugs him back with just as much force, burying his face in the messy black hair and giving a trembling sigh. His scars still ache, but the pressure is a grounding reminder now, an anchor. He’s here. He’s safe. The fire is gone. Luffy is here. Luffy is safe. He can protect him.

The world is silent beneath the roaring in his ears, but as his heart slows down he can hear the quiet is lightened by the heavy sound of their breathing. In and out. Sabo’s is harsh and stuttered, but Luffy’s is even and deep, and Sabo is reminded of Ace’s words. Breathe with me, Sabo, breathe.

So he does. It’s hard to breathe with the arms latched tightly around him, but he paces his breath as best he can until he feels his body begin to relax and the world pieces itself back into place slowly.

“Sabo?”

He’s a bit surprised to hear Luffy’s voice, albeit muffled by his shirt, break the quiet. But then, he isn't sure how long already they've sat there.

“Yeah, Lu?”

The grip around his torso loosens and Sabo sucks in a deep breath with the newfound freedom to do so, feeling his ribs ache.

“What’s marriage?”

He nearly chokes. 

Truthfully this should have been a question he should have been expecting at some point. They couldn’t just get married and adopt Luffy without Luffy knowing- but he certainly wasn’t expecting it so soon. What had even sparked the question-

His laptop shines at him, illuminating them with its traitorous screen that clearly shows the article he’d pulled up. ‘How to get married’.

He quickly reaches forward and closes the laptop, cringing slightly as he feels Luffy peel away from him and he can just feel the curious eyes staring at him.

“... Why don’t you ask Ace, huh?” his eyes are closed, but he can practically see the puff of frustration in Luffy’s cheeks.

“Ace is still at the store.”

Ah. Damn. His head is still foggy, but he has a feeling Luffy won’t let it go until he offers something of an explanation.

“Marriage is when two people who love each other a whole lot say they’re going to live the rest of their lives together.”

It was a half-assed explanation, but he feels his brother relax and takes it as a victory.

“Oh. Okay. Are you and Ace going to get married?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter is late and short! I wanted to explore Sabo's side a little more and I didn't feel as though I wanted to push the plot too far just yet. I promise the next chapter will have some actual plot content.


	5. Rework

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hmhphofkfkf

Hey all! The interest in this fic has me wanting to rework it into something better than I originally wrote! It honestly started as a bad idea I wanted to explore. But now I want to flesh it out! I will be rewriting this whole bit of nonsense and hopefully you all will bear with me-


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